This invention relates to a method for promoting growth of the fungi of Basidiomycetes by means of cultivation.
More particularly, this invention relates to a normal aliphatic alcohol represented by the formula: C.sub.n H.sub.2n+1 OH, wherein n is an integer of 26 to 36, is very effective in promoting the growth of a fungus belonging to Basidiomycetes when the alcohol is added to the conventional culture media of the fungus.
Increasing interest is shown recently in use of the fungi of Basidiomycetes as the base material for medicines and health foods, but low rate of growth of such fungi in cultivation thereof as compared with other microorganisms such as bacteria or yeast is causing a bottleneck for inductrial utilization of these fungi.
Addition of nutrients such as inorganic salts, extracts from natural products, etc., in the medium has been proposed as a measure for promoting growth of the basidiomycetes in cultivation thereof. Addition of such nutrients in the culture medium has indeed an effect of promoting cell division of the basidiomycetes, but it can not bring about a similar effect for differentiation of the cells and attendant organization thereof, and hence no desired promotion of growth and propagation is provided. Thus, such measure is unable to realize production of high-quality mycelia of the above-mentioned fungi at a high rate.
We found that growth of the basidiomycetes is markedly promoted and also differentiation and organization of the cells are advanced by adding in the culture medium a small quantity of a straight chain saturated aliphatic alcohol with a carbon number within a specified range, thereby allowing obtaining of high-quality mycelia of the fungi.
The object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a method capable of promoting growth and propagation of the basidiomycetes and producing the high-quality mycelia of the fungi by means of cultivation thereof.
The invention is described in detail hereinbelow.